Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Clockwise from above) Rich Arnaiz at homein Palm Springs, California, with his daughter Kristin; in action on the Rumi Honda in Europe; and a look back at his dirt track roots, leading Scott Parker (11) and Ricky Graham (41) at Ascot. 16 'o ne little corner of the shield started clearing up. At Donington the curbs are painted blue, so I just started looking for blue. Then I'd start turning it in. The shield got clearer and clearer and I started moving back up. I couldn't see my pit board because it was on the side that my shield was fogged. I had no idea where I was; I thought I was fourth, but I wasn't sure. I ended upturning the fastest lap of , the race on the final lap, and almost finished third. " But he still didn't know he'd clinched the title, until he returned to pit lane: "When I carne in everybody was jumping up and down, so I knew I'd won it." Tied on points, Arnaiz took the title because' he'd won more races. "The week in England was tough. I didn't have any fingerriails left. Everybody was there for the final race - my parents were there. I was in sheer agony about halfway through the race when I was going backwards. I was glad when it was over with." Okay, so he's moved to Palm Springs with tons of money to join the golfbag-toting elite. Wrong. Arnaiz is rich in name only, and: "I play golf a little, but I suck at it. I'd like to get good so I could beat Fred (Merkel), but he's pretty good." "Winning the championship wasn't a financial success," Arnaiz says honestly. "Unless you have a big corporate sponsor the majority of the money comes from people like helmet sponsors. They pay a lot of money over there. Nolen (helmets) offered me a substantial amount of money to wear their helmet next year in Europe, but they weren 't real interested in the American market. The offer here was much less. Once you do well over there and win a championship while building those relationships, you stand to make money the following year . That's where I'm losing out now." Arnaiz has had only, a single test session on the Commonwealth Honda, but he built a relationship with , the RC30 during his season in Europe and he's comfortable with the bike's abilities. The test session he did have was ' at Willow Springs, but it was the dark day that saw ' his teammate Randy Renfrow injured. Arnaiz, too, crashed, but escaped unhurt. Renfrow's spot on the team has since been taken over by Canadian Miguel DuHamel. Crashing has long been Arnaiz' undoing, especially at the seasonopening Daytona 200. In 1989, he was winning the 200 when he crashed on the 48th lap, only nine laps from winning the biggest race of his career. He's hoping to put that behind him with a win in the all-important 200. "Trying to stay cool is the key to doing well at Daytona," he said. "You've got to keep a level head and try not to get anxious. And stay up. - You don't get anything for laying on your back. It's just a long, hard race and a lot of things can happen." Like the majority of northern Cali- , fornia road racers, the majority of Arnaiz' early racing days were spent at the Lodi Cycle Bowl. The proving ground for many a young racer. " Chri s Carr was racing at the same time I was at Lodi, but he was only about this tall," Arnaiz said while holding his hand at knee level. "(Doug) Chandler was about a year behind me - he was riding mini bikes when I was riding 250 Junior. Mainly I raced against guys like Alex and Kim jorgensen." Arnaiz raced as an Expert-level dirt tracker for five years before his father pushed him toward road racing in 1981. Rich's best result as an Expert dirt -tracker carne at the Ascot TT in southern California - he finished fourth. Arnaiz longs to return to his dirt tracking roots, and he's hoping to get the opportunity to go dirt tracking in 1991. "I miss dirt tracking," he said. "I'd really like to do some more this year. I'd have to okay it with Martin (team owner - Adams). I don't want to get too excited about it, but there may be a chance of me getting on a Honda. I'm hoping it will come through, at least towards the end of the year when the road races are over. If they gave me the chance to ride a Honda it'd be too good to pass up." At Daytona and three other races in 1991, Arnaiz' and DuHamel's Commonwealth Hondas will be painted in the gold and blue colors of Camel. He will also be aboard a Honda CBR600 in the 600cc Supersport event. "The Willow Springs test was the first time I'd ever ridden a 600," Arnaiz said. "They're fun. I think we can win a championship on it. But I don't know if Martin (Adams) is going to want us to do the whole series. I'll definitely ride one at Daytona, though. Hopefully, if things go well there we'll go after the whole thing. There's pretty good money in that class. "I'm real excited to be back here doing the AMA series. I'm looking forward to it because I think it would be neat to come back here and win this championship. I was fortunate enough that Martin Adams called me and told me what he was trying to do. At that time he didn't know if he was going to be able to do it or not. He didn't know if Honda was going to go for it and all that, but luckily they did. They've given the team their blessing and their backing and it all came through. It's allowed me to stay here and race." Rich Arnaiz' name is most likely somewhat foreign to American race fans. He raced in relative obscurity until winning his first AMA Superbike National at Road America in 1989, and then he left for Europe shortly thereafter. Even his competitors will have a hard time judging just how far his riding has been elevated from a season in Europe. Is he still the same hardriding Mexican American that competed in all-white leathers on the somewhat beaten Motorsport-backed Yamaha FZ750 back in '89? "I've cut down on my crashes," Arnaiz said. "There were a lot of times on that old Yamaha that I just didn't have it set up properly and I had to ride it pretty hard. We were doing the best we could, but we really didn't have enough help. " I may not be the fastest guy out there at first. Now I try to take it step by step and not do anything stupid, although I didn't really do' mat"at Willow Springs (during his first test with Commonwealth). That was just a dumb mistake." The next step in Arnaiz' career will come during qualifying at Daytona: "Qualifying is important and it's good to get on the pole if you can , but if you can't it doesn't mean you're not going to win. And it doesn't mean you ' are going to win if you do qualify on pole - especially at Daytona because it 's such a long race. If I'm not on the pole I won't lose any sleep over it. The main thing is getting the bike so it works well in the race. Qualifying is nice, but it's not the race." Arnaiz will be 29 on Thursday, March 7 - during Daytona's Cycle Week. " I always have my birthday at Daytona." ' And he's looking for a belated , birthday gift three days later. a

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